RRR (2022)

RRR (2022)

This is the epic story of Ramu (Allur Sitarama Raju) and Bheem (NT Rama Rao Jr), two fierce soldiers on opposite sides of a long-running conflict in India one hundred years ago between the local residents and their British colonizers.  Ramu reports to the British military and is on a mission to find the lead revolutionary who has been hiding in nearby forests - that revolutionary happens to be Bheem.  Of course, they become friends at one point starting to fight together unaware of the other one’s roots…..and what results is a CRAZY 3+ hour extravagance of action, fantasy, dancing, revolution, and tigers defying gravity. :o   Come learn about this deliriously entertaining Tollywood smash which not only took India but the rest of the world by storm this year!  It was directed by S.S. Rajamouli and it’s quite the ride….

Host: Geoff Gershon
 
 Editors: Geoff and Ella Gershon

Producer: Marlene Gershon

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Transcript

RRR - 2022

Directed by S.S. Rajamouli (Audio clip)

Starring NT Rama Rao Jr., Ram Charan, Alia Bhatt, Ajay Devgn, Alison Doody, Olivia Morris, and Ray Stevenson

Genre: Historical Action Epic

And to think my actual introduction to this movie was going to the bathroom after seeing something else a few months ago....I just heard this LOUD bombastic music wafting through the hallways but it didn't sound like the theme music for any franchise I could recall. 🤔 Well apparently it was the raucous closing musical number for this action epic....

Shamefully, I did not end up catching this in theaters and I wish I did because this is just balls-out big budget filmmaking in the best way! That it's just over three hours even with a deceptively simple story (think...The Killer meets Gangs of New York meets Braveheart) is one of several aspects which are confounding about it. RRR (Rise, Rour, Revolt) is about two seemingly unstoppable men of action on opposite sides of a revolution (India's fight for independence from the British empire in the 1920's) who inadvertendently become friends, then learn unexpected things about each other....and of course chaos ensues! 

And chaos on-screen kind of defines this movie as director S.S. Rajamoli's frame is often filled with loads of extras, elaborate sets, ferocious animals, lush forests, and of course no shortage of physics-defying action always featuring at least one of our two main protagonists. That would include the soulful, wild-haired, wide-eyed Bheem (NT Rama Roa Jr), a "revolutionary" now living in the forest who is singularly focused on rescuing a young girl kidnapped from his village now in the clutches of the local British governor (Ray Stevenson) in his heavily fortified castle/mansion. And then there's the more conventionally stately Rama who is an Indian-born police officer determined to prove himself to his British superiors in their continued efforts to keep the local revolutionaries under control - he's played by Ram Charan in a very charismatic performance and BOTH main leads are adept with the action, also having nice chemistry! 

Speaking of the chaos.....there's no shortage of as this film is pretty much wall-to-wall action. :) It's sometimes reliant on CGI but never distractingly so as everything is filmed crisply and almost always center-frane so that we always have a sense of where the major players are what they're doing. And wow....some of the things we see our two main heroes doing just DEFY explanation! They're flipping backwards, launching other people into the air, performing crazy stunts with animals, and even - as these guys become more aligned - carrying the other one on his shoulder for tactical advantage when facing off against hordes of bad guys coming at them. 
🤭

We see them bond, dance, tend to each other, and coach each other in the ways of romance - they're just a fun, engaging pair to watch together! Each brings as much depth to his character as the sprawling screenplay allows but honestly, the story never really slows down - there's ample lip service given to the true conflict story of the time though it's obvious from the get-go that these are FICTIONALIZED versions of real individuals.....almost drifting in Hamilton territory as there is often a running musical voice-over from each of them providing some commentary on what's going on. 

Eventually some secrets get revealed, the stakes get raises, and the action just builds and builds into a CRAZY extended third act which kicks off feeling like The Passion of The Christ (Guess which sequence?) and eventually into Rambo territory. :o Yes there is gore and violence but it never feels gratuitous and this film maintains a rambunctious spirit all the way though a final dance sequence which closes out the film.

They're calling this more recent style of Indian cinema "Tollywood" (as opposed to Bollywood) and while I don't pretend to know the difference, I have to say that I really dig it. ;) It's often tongue-in-cheek but always sincere and the action is extremely inventive....one of the most purely enjoyable films of recent years, the hype is real with this one!

Best Needledrop (best song cue or score used throughout runtime of film): 

There’s a sequence about half-way through when our two heroes infiltrate a Colonial British party and of course…..liven it up with a dance-off.  And not just any dance off - Bheem is courting a lovely British aristocrat named Jenny who also seems to fancy him and tries to initiate a dance with her until a smug, angry-looking Brit tries to stop him.  But his friend Rama is NOT having it so they team up in this dance circle….and in a nice moment, Jennifer really kicks things off by pulling their respective suspenders forward as if they are both just being SNAPPED into action! And what follows……is more than a dance, it becomes a true endurance test all to increasingly fast-paced music!  They’re kicking, waving their arms, they’re bending down on their knees Riverdance-style, stretching their suspenders, the works…..and then we watch as the angry brit gets in on the action and it becomes a race to see who will drop first.  As it escalates, we see a growing crowd of British women dancing along while the British men are cheering on their ONE fast-dancing representative to outlast  both Bheem and Rama – we even start to see dust flying up all over as the dance moves just speed up faster and faster.  And the final payoff of this dazzling sequence is a TRUE demonstration of friendship between our two heroes, I’ll leave it at that…. 

The dance is referred to by Rama as “Desi Naach” and the song is performed by Indian playback artists Kala Bhairava and Rahul Sipligunj who have both worked on many soundtrack in Indian cinema over the past several years.  Everything about this sequence is just top-flight from the choreography to the sheer joy demonstrated by our two main leads as they dance up a storm…..the song is called “Naatu Naatu” which I THINK is loosely translated into “Dance Dance.” Man musical sequences just do NOT get better than this!  (Audio Clip) 

Wasted Talent (most under-utilized talent involved with film): 

Over the past five months, RRR has become an international phenomenon making an estimated $160 million worldwide making it one of the highest grossing Indian productions in recent year and also one of the first to make some significant money in the US no less.  And as a result, ’m sure that there are some Hollywood executives at this VERY MOMENT who are thinking of how they can capitalize on its success and my only fear is that they take the wrong lessons from this film…..mainly just trying to duplicate surface aspects of it including the flying CGI animals but with zero context to the stories they are trying to tell.

And that would be a mistake – the best lessons to be learned from RRR are more complex: better shot composition, a careful tonal balance between sincerity and playfulness, and…..not being afraid to spend some money on the tangible elements.  

For instance, there’s one impressive sequence early on when a MASSIVE crowd of Indians are surrounding a British-run compound and we see Rama sent into this crowd - ALONE and only armed with a long staff - trying to smash his way armed only with a long staff through it to arrest one suspected insurgent….an here’s the kicker: even as the camera pulls back and/or pans over the crowd, you can always see EXACTLY where he is located within the crowd.  And that’s because while this scene uses a significant amount of greenscreen, speed ramping, and CGI……the filmmakers ALSO utilized a crowd of 2,000 extras PLUS large sets on the ground allowing for several different layers of both virtual and practical elements combining for imagery that while not always looking completely realistic or even obeying the laws of physics, it still all looks tangible and is easy to follow.  

Now in your TYPICAL major studio hands – you know directors with names that rhyme…..with words like say…..Busso…..or Spider for instance…..this type of sequence would just come off as visual noise with often non-descript figures scurrying all over the screen.  But this complex Tollywood style is just ONE recent example of how it doesn’t have to be that way…..even on a pretty sizeable budget as this film cost an estimated $70 million US dollars to produce.  If Hollywood takes notice of the success of films like RRR and ONLY tries to co-opt the most basic surface elements – “Hey guys, one of the higher-ups just saw the dailies of that battle sequence and they’re asking if we could possibly thrown in some flying CGI tigers in there??” – then THAT would definitely be a demonstration of wasted talent. 

Trailer Moment (scene or moment that best describes this movie): 

Oh yes…..there are even MORE impressive sequences believe it or not!  For me, the absolute highlight is an action sequence taking place on a bridge about 40 minutes into the movie.  A train is running under this bridge carrying oil tanks and…..wouldn’t you know it, something expected on the track impedes it resulting in the train starting to derail and…..of course the explosion of one of those tankers which falls on the water below RIGHT near a young boy on a boat.  Suddenly he's surrounded by fire….oh no!  Well as it turns out, both of our main protagonists are on opposite sides of the bridge….they haven’t met before but start to notice each other…..and they realize what they BOTH have to do to rescue that boy in danger……and with minimal communication no less as the only real interaction we see between them are hand gestures between each of them which they can only see in the distance.  

No matter because that’s ALL they need….well that and a large rope which they each tie around themselves on opposite sides of the rope.  Then while linked with this rope, Rama jumps on a horse…..Bheem starts a motorcycle and they’re  OFF.  They ride fast to jump off opposite sides of the bridge as they BOTH swing underneath the bridge…..as one picks up the boy while the other carries a flag through the water……they swap flag and boy as we then see Bheem wrapped in a wet flag able to swing through the rising flames while Rama tosses the boy to safer waters…..and THEN as they both swing back, their arms lock under the bridge as they smile at each other triumphantly.  They are now fast friends, allies…..BROTHERS, the camera then closes in on their hands and we suddenly transition into a title sequence pulling out from those hands revealing the FULL title…..R….R…..R. Yup in case this wasn’t already obvious, merely describing this sequence on a podcast does NOT do it justice….

MVP (person or people most responsible for the success of this film): 

Oh right some one directed this right? Yup his name is S.S. Rajamouli and apparently, he is India’s answer to James Cameron as he has now directed three of the five highest grossing films to date in Indian…..including RRR.  And like Cameron, he has also directed THE most expensive films to date within his respective industry which is Telugu cinema, mainly productions in two particular Indian states….with the nickname of “Tollywood.”  As described on Wikipedia, Rajamouli’s films are “characterized by larger than life characters, epic scale, mythological references, stylized action sequences, and heroism.”  Those all sound like good traits to me and RRR delivers them all in flying colors.

Rajamouli’s own personal story seems pretty inspiring as well as he came from humble roots but was fortunate to have a crafty father and uncle who integrated them into the local film industry with minimal experience, mainly starting out on ghost-writers for several screenplays – they scrounged around with limited funds to find unfished films to work on and were pretty much self-taught.  They eventually spread that knowledge to SS from a young age.  Nowadays, pretty much most of the extended family is now involved with filmmaking at various levels and often collaborating…..his brother S.S. Kanchi also became a screenwriter, actor, AND director.  

S.S. Rajamouli is now India’s highest paid director along with receiving several awards along the way – whether RRR is his BEST movie is debatable but at the very least, it has me interested enough to want to check out his other ones.  For helming an action epic with a story that is arguably JUST as inspiring as his own, S.S. Rajamouli is your MVP.

Final Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5

If you haven’t already, then what are you waiting for?  By all means, pop on Netflix and check this one out!

Streaming on Netflix

And that ends another RIP-ROARING review!